Jelekungkang waterfalls is being made into a tourist attraction and the local community is stepping up to the task by arranging the area around these waterfalls located in Tammanbali, Bangli. Ketut Purna who has been instrumental in this process, said that as of a week ago a path to the waterfalls has been opened. He

Jelekungkang waterfalls is being made into a tourist attraction and the local community is stepping up to the task by arranging the area around these waterfalls located in Tammanbali, Bangli. Ketut Purna who has been instrumental in this process, said that as of a week ago a path to the waterfalls has been opened.

He explained that local residents have been bathing at these waterfalls for a very long time but that acces was not easy until recently. Since the road and path have been opened, children have been coming the waterfall in droves. “Now, almost every day, children from our village come here to bathe. Sometimes, they also help us cleanup the area”, said this man who also popularised Kiningan waterfall.

Purna added that he is eager to make this waterfalls into a tourist attraction as a way to boost the local economy. Chief of Jelekungkang customary village, Wayan Wirya, confrimed that although the waterfall has been there for a very long time, it is only very recently that it has been made more accessible. “ It is Mr. Purna who took the initiative to arrange the area and I myself only found out a few days ago about his plan to make it inot a tourist attraction” siad Chief Wirya, who added that quite possibly the customary village authorities whoudl manage the site in the future.

However, he explained that for the time being they are just seeing how things go. “For the now we do not know what management will look like. If things go well, perhaps it will be taken over by the customary village. Let’s see how things progress” stated Wirya.

As observation recently, the path to the waterfall is quite steep with the path leading along a steep precipice that is only accessible by foot. The water of this 25 foot waterfall is very clear. (BTN/kmb)